Motoring: As the amount of on-board electronics increases, cars are gradually getting closer to being able to park themselves automatically

THE ability of a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti to accelerate to 60mph in just over four seconds is remarkable—but it is no use at all when you are trying to reverse into a tight parking-space outside a busy shop while popping out to get some milk. What is invaluable, however, is that when the car is put into reverse, the screen in the centre of the dashboard switches from satellite-navigation mode and instead displays the view from a camera at the back of the car. This is overlaid with coloured bars showing where, on its current trajectory, the car will end up. As you back into the space, bleeping noises from proximity detectors indicate how close other vehicles are to the Ferrari's very expensive bodywork.

If you dislike parking and that still sounds like too much hard work, then you could instead buy a slightly less glamorous vehicle, a Skoda Superb, which is available with an option called Park Assist. This allows you to pull up alongside an empty space—a screen in the car will confirm that it is big enough—select reverse, and fold your arms. The steering wheel then spins as the car parks itself. You still have to control the accelerator and brake, but if you exceed 4mph, or touch the steering wheel at any point, the automatic-parking system is instantly switched off.

The appeal of this sort of technology, which made its first appearance in the Toyota Prius (pictured) in 2003, is clear. Parking, especially parallel to the kerb, is something many people find difficult. It can also result in a lot of damage: parking accidents account for more than 20% of car-insurance claims, even though many of the dents and scrapes suffered in car parks are never reported in order to protect no-claims bonuses. So it is hardly surprising that carmakers expect lots of demand for vehicles that can help park themselves, and are starting to offer a variety of parking-assistance systems on new cars.

The Skoda's Park Assist is based on the Park4U technology from Valeo, a French component-maker which supplies the system to carmakers in the Volkswagen group including VW, Audi and Skoda. Valeo recently announced that the system will be offered on two of Ford's new Lincoln models in America. Bosch, a German company, supplies the automatic-parking system found in some Mercedes-Benz cars. Like Park4U, it requires the driver to use the accelerator and brake, but Bosch reckons it enables anyone to park a car in a tight spot as swiftly as an expert driver could.

Parking assistance is likely to become cheaper and more widespread because more vehicles are being equipped with the essential components on which it depends: ultrasonic sensors and electronic steering. Once these are in place, it does not cost much to add a few extra parts, and a layer of control software, to enable a car to park itself. Skoda's Park Assist, for instance, costs an extra £620 ($870) on the base version of the Superb in Britain, but £345 on the top models which have ultrasonic sensors fitted as standard.

Sensor perspective

Ultrasonic sensors measure distance and, in the most basic parking-assistance systems, simply bleep with increasing anxiety as an obstacle gets closer. Once found only at the front and back of a vehicle, they are now being fitted to the sides and corners, too. Some models use small, radar-based sensors as well. These sensors are useful for more than just parking.

Mercedes-Benz's Distronic Plus system, for instance, contains radar-based sensors as part of its cruise-control system, to keep the car at a preset distance from the vehicle in front, braking automatically if the gap narrows quickly. Sensors on the corners of cars, meanwhile, can detect approaching vehicles in blind spots, as when reversing out of a diagonal parking space. Side-mounted sensors detect and measure parallel-parking spaces for parking-assistance systems. These can usually be activated only if the car is moving below a particular speed (in the Skoda's case, 18mph).

Electronic steering is replacing hydraulic power-steering in many cars. Electronic steering was developed in part to provide a lighter, more compact form of power-steering for small cars and for hybrid vehicles, which require steering assistance when running on batteries alone. Controlling steering using electric motors also helps to reduce fuel consumption and hence carbon-dioxide emissions. (Electric motors require power only when the steering wheel is turned, whereas a hydraulic pump drains power from the engine all the time.) Ford reckons 90% of its cars will have electronic steering within three years. It is easy for parking software to control because it involves switching electric motors on and off, rather than operating mechanical pumps.

Parking systems will inevitably become more elaborate in the coming years. BMW is developing one that will automatically drive a car into and out of a parking space in a garage; the driver merely has to press buttons on a key fob while standing nearby. This is meant to help people park in tight spots where the car can get in, but there is little room to open the doors to allow the occupants out.

The company's test vehicle, a BMW 7 Series, uses a camera mounted behind the windscreen, similar to those used in cars with lane-departure warning systems. A special reflector, placed on the wall of the garage in front of the car, is used to align the steering. The car's ultrasonic sensors check for obstacles, and software starts and stops the engine, controls the brakes and hazard-warning flashers, and folds the wing mirrors in and out. It is only a matter of time before the accelerator is also controlled automatically. Indeed, Bosch is already experimenting with an automatic-parking system that requires no intervention from the driver at all—other than pressing the “park” button, of course.